WSP04825

• File Number: 8210.140.20
• Description: Colorado River Basin Organizations and Entities - Colorado River Basin States Forum - California
• State: CA
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 1/1/1939
• Author: Metro Water District
• Title: Metropolitan Water District of Southern California - History and First Annual Report
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Annual Report

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INTRODUCTION

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THE Colorado River aqueduct was planned and is being built
to fulfill a definite need in a large, prosperous, and growing
community. As of June 30,1941 the construction of the initial
stage of the project was almost 100 per cent complete on the basis
of ability to deliver softened and fiitered Colorado River water to
constituent areas of the District. The constructing agency is The
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a public cor-
poration organized under the Metropolitan Water District Act
(California Statutes of 1927, chapter 429, page 694), and incorpo-
rated December 6, 1928. The District was created to develop, store,
and distribute to its constituent areas, water for domestic, indus-
trial, and other beneficiai uses. It is presently composed of the
cities of Anaheim, Fullerton, and Santa Ana, in Orange County;
and Beveriy Hills, Burbank, Compton, Glendale, Long Beach, Los
Angeles, Pasadena, San Marino, Santa Monica, and Torrance, in
Los Angeles County. Its Colorado River water will also be de-
livered to other Southern California cities or districts which from
time to time become constituent areas of The Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California.

!-iw,dequa.ie local water supplies
The area to be served by the Colorado River aqueduct contains
nearly half the wealth and population of the entire State of Cali-
fornia, but its natural water resources, exclusive of the Colo-
rado River, are less than one per cent of the state's total. A
water shortage has been slowly but surely approaching in step
with the rapid development of the coastal basin, and has only been
delayed by the recent years of above-normal rainfall. Growth far
beyond the permanent or safe water supply has been made possible
by a fortunate geophysical circumstance. The fertile top soils of
many coastal basin areas are underlain by deep beds of gravel. In
the ages preceding settlement, these beds were filled with water,
forming an extensive system of underground reservoirs. For many
years each farm, or factory, or city, had an ample water supply
literally under its own land. Moderate costs of shallow wells led to
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